Shoe attachment



y 2, 1956 E. J. PATTERSON, JR, 2,746,174

SHOE ATTACHMENT Filed Jan. 5, 1954 mwmwur INVENTOR. Edward PaffersonJo: BY (Joseph L. Pa/fersan QQLDKILUI WM RTTGRNEY United States Patent Ofifice 2,746,174 Patented May 22, 1956 sHoE ATTACHMENT Edward James Patterson, Jr., and Joseph L. Patterson, Toledo, Ohio Application January 5, 1954, Serial No. 402,212

1 Claim. (Cl. 36-7.7)

This invention relates to attachments for shoes but more particularly those which are adapted to convert ordinary street shoes into sport shoes to enable the wearer to play football, golf, or other games requiring the use of cleats of a particular design.

In the event a boy of school age, for example, desires to play games, such as football, baseball, or the like requiring cleats of a particular design, substantial expense is incurred in acquiring the proper shoes for each sport. In fact the cost of shoes for this game or that game is so high that many boys are deprived of the benefits and pleasures derived from such outdoor games and competitions.

it is a desideratum to overcome the above difficulties in a simple and inexpensive manner. An object is therefore to produce a new and improved attachment for the ordinary shoe, thereby to adapt or convert same for use in a selective game requiring the use of cleats of a specific design. The attachment is such that it can be quickly and conveniently attached to ordinary street shoes without special tools and has certain resilient properties inherent therein enabling it automatically to give or yield as the shoe is flexed without coming loose or interfering with the wearer in running, jumping, sliding or other actions common to games of this character. Thus the attachment combined with ordinary street shoes provides footwear closely approximating in feel and action, sports shoes having cleats or the like as a part thereof and of course achieving this result quite inexpensively and bringing the cost to within the pocketbook of parents who could not afford the individual shoes for individual sports.

For purposes of illustration but not of limitation, embodiments of the invention are shown on the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the attachment applied to the ordinary street shoe, the attachment being equipped with cleats for use in the game of football;

Figure 2 is a transverse sectional view substantially on the line 22 of Figure 1 showing the upper face of the attachment;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 33 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of a portion of the sole of the attachment showing a baseball cleat attached thereto;

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view showing a golf cleat secured to the attachment, thereby adapting the attachment for use in a game of golf; and

Figure 6 is a top plan view of an alternate form of attachment involving the use of helical coil springs.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention shown on Figures 1 to 5 comprises a resilient rubber pad 10 formed in one piece and shaped to the contour of the shoe. As shown the pad 10 is flat on the top and the bottom except for longitudinally disposed grids 11 between the heel and sole portions and transverse ribs 12 formed in both the sole and the heel portion. These ribs are disposed on the upper surface of the pad to be engaged by the shoe S of the wearer to which the attachment is applied as will be hereinafter described. Manifestly the pad 10 is of such size both longitudinally and laterally as substantially to cover the heel and sole portions of the wearers shoe.

The pad 10 is preferably formed by molding and embodied in the pad are toe or sole plate 13 and a heel plate 14. The toe or sole plate 13 covers the front portion of the pad. In order words the sole plate 13 occupies the major portion of-the front portion of the pad and manifestly is fully concealed from view. The plates are preferably of sheet metal stampings although other suitable sheet material may be used to advantage.

The heel plate 14 is similarly embodied between the upper and lower surfaces of the rubber pad 10 except for lateral extensions 15 which are integral with the heel plate 14. As shown these extensions project laterally beyond the perimeter or edge portions of the pad 10 and terminate in upwardly extending tabs 16 which have slots 17 to receive attaching strap 18, the latter being provided with an adjustable buckle 19 as will be readily understood. The tabs 16 incline forwardly and outwardly particularly as shown in Figure 2. In other words the rear ends of the adjacent tabs 16 are closer together and then incline forwardly and outwardly. This arrangement enables the heel of the wearers shoe to be firmly clamped in place and prevent the heel from slipping from the attachment as will be readily understood.

At the front portion of the pad in a region spaced rearwardly from the toe portion are integral rubber flaps 20 which extend upwardly and incline inwardly so as to clasp or partially embrace the sides of the toe portion of the wearers shoe as shown in Figure l. The upper portions of the flaps 20 have holes 21 through which a lace 22 may extend for attaching this portion of the pad to the toe portion of the wearers shoe.

Formed in the heel portion and extending through both the rubber layers and the sheet or plate 13 and a plate 14 are a number of holes 23. The number and arrangement of these holes is important in that they are adapted to receive cleats for football, golf, or baseball. Figures 1 to 3 show football cleats 24 attached in position of use. It will be seen that on the heel are two cleats and on the sole portion there are four cleats. In addition there are holes provided for golfers cleats 26 (Figure 5) which are differently arranged from the football cleats. In the case of the golf cleats 26 an adaptor 27 is provided which threadedly receives the individual cleat 26. In the case of the football cleats 24 a screw 25 introduced from the upper side of the pad threadedly receives the individual cleat. Figure 4 shows baseball cleat plate 28 mounted into position of use on the toe portion of the pad, the same being held in place by removable screws similar to the structure above described as will be readily understood. As will be understood by those interested in sports a separate plate somewhat similar to the plate 28 is attached to the heel portion.

Referring to Figure 6 an alternate form of the invention is illustrated. In this case there is a sole plate 29 of any suitable sheet material such as rubber, leather, metal or the like. Suitably riveted to opposite sides of the sole plate 29 are flexible flaps 30 which have holes in their outer ends to receive laces thereby enabling the sole to attach to the toe portion of the wearers shoe. A separate heel plate 31 is provided and may be of the same sheet material as the plate 29. The heel plate 31 has angularly disposed upwardly extending tabs 32 similar to the tabs 16 above described and these are adapted to receive straps similar to the straps 18 above described. Connecting the toe and heel portions are helical coil springs 33 and 34 which are arranged in crossing relation with the ends hooked into holes adjacent the edge portions of the heel and the sole plates.

From the above description it will be mainfest that we have produced an exceedingly inexpensive and practical attachment to street shoes adapting the latter for use for portswear in games such as football, golf, and baseball or other games embodying cleats or the like. The feature of resiliently connecting the toe and heel portions is of importance in that it enables the attachment to give or yield along with the wearers shoe thus facilitating running, jumping, sliding or other movements common to these games. Thus the inherent resilience of the attachment is definitely of importance in contributing to the comfort of the wearer as well as insuring that the attachment will stay firmly in attached position. It will further be clear that the structures above described can be produced at an exceedingly low cost so as to bring the attachment pricewise into the hands of many boys particularly of school age.

Numerous changes may be effected in details of construction, arrangement and operation, especially as defined in the appended claim.

What we claim is:

An overshoe sandal for sports use, comprising a unitary pad member of resilient rubber shaped to fit the sole and heel of the wearers shoe, sheet metal plates embedded in the sole and heel portions of the pad member, said plates and adjacent portion of the pad member being apertured to receive anti-slip means, the portion of the pad member intermediate said plates being longitudinally stretchable,

integral flaps on opposite edge portions of the sole portion of the pad member extending upwardly and inwardly to fit over a portion of the wearers shoe, tie means connecting the free edge portions of said flaps for tightly securing the same to the Wearers shoe, the heel plate having integral projections on each side thereof extending outwardly beyond the unitary pad on each side of the latter, and means including flexible tie means tightly embracing the wearers ankle and extending from the outward projections of the heel plate, whereby the front and rear portions of the pad are anchored in place and the stretchable intermediate portion of the pad enables the pad to yield with the wearers shoe facilitating shoe movements normal to sports use.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 183,949 Loewenthal Oct. 31, 1876 412,472 Croner Oct. 8, 1889 1,195,866 Stephan Aug. 22, 1916 2,102,601 Murber Dec. 21, 1937 2,108,439 LHollier Feb. 15, 1938 2,193,943 Shea Mar. 19, 1940 2,330,458 Tubbs Sept. 28, 1943 FOREIGN PATENTS 84,632 Sweden Oct. 15, 1935 492,301 Germany Feb. 24, 1930 

